The 74-year-old Franklin, whose first album Songs of Faith dropped in 1956, said she'll stop performing in concert after recording an album in September. The new project will include works produced by Stevie Wonder, she added.

"I must tell you, I am retiring this year," she said. "This will be my last year. I will be recording, but this will be my last year in concert."

Still, she added she plans to do "some select things, many one a month, for six months out of the year."

Franklin noted that her retirement does not mean she plans to kick up her feet and relax, though. She said she's got plenty left to do.

"I feel very, very enriched and satisfied with respect to where my career came from, and where it is now," she said. "I'll be pretty much satisfied, but I'm not going to go anywhere and just sit down and do nothing. That wouldn't be good either."